World Mental Health Day

[bluecat*dancing]

Today is World Mental Health Day.

World Mental Health Day raises public awareness about mental health issues. The day promotes open di...  

[bluecat*dancing]

I was disappointedly reminded that stigma surrounding mental illness is still out there. I had lunch with someone who was of the opinion that it was too easy to get on DSP and that everyone on DSP with a mental condition should be made to work full time because its in their own best interest. I would love to not be eligible for the DSP. I'd love to be able to do things that most people take for granted and don't even give a second thought to. I'd love to have a brain that was well.

The pettiness of some who have little or no understanding of what it is like to be mentally unwell can be very disheartening.

[purple_haize]

Bluecat.......some people should learn to keep their mouths shut & if they dont suffer a disability, then they have no right to give an opinion.

((((HUGS))))

[channys_mum]

Also employers need to be a little flexible.

I had had two people with bipolar working for me in the past.

ok the jobs are a bit meanial. The world doesn't depend on them being always there

One was totally reliable.

The other mostly reliable. 

At first she hadn't told me, and one bad day she rang me and just quit. So I said ok.

Then I rang her back and said are you having a bad day and would like a coffee and a chat or do you really want to quit.

She is still working for the person who now has my business and she is still having coffees and chats with me sometimes.

She has never not done her job properly. The job doesn't interfere with her dsp. It is only a couple of days a week.

She likes having the little extra income and can buy a few little luxuries that she couldn't before. Also she is not quite the hermit she was.

I know another bipolar girl who wouldn't cope even with that. She rarely leaves home and never without her hubby. I pop in and visit when she is up to it.

[purple_haize]

My cousins son has bi polar, he is in his late 30's now, he has a job, with limited hours, that suit him, his employer is wonderful and knows the limits of this person.

Fortunately there are some work places that take into consideration that not everyone is the same, some have disabilities, some havent, but I have found, that it is those that have disabilities such as bi polar etc, they are the ones that are more than willing to work, than those people who take life and work for granted.

[bluecat*dancing]

It takes a special kind of  person who can be flexible enough to employ someone with a debilitating mental illness. I'd be able to work perhaps an hour a week occassionally but I would be totally unreliable because of how my mental illness manifests itself. As it is, I'm  extremely anxious about walking around the corner to put a letter in a neighbour's letterbox. Ridiculous. I'm unable to get dressed or even make myself a cup of coffee.Completely ridiculous.

[flashie*]

I think education is the way to go.

My husband has bi-polar...............we do not keep it a secret...........we talk about it amongst our friends.

My husband has managed to keep a full time job..............and until the medication caused him other medical trouble we ran our own business.

It has not restricted him much.................he can not work shift work.............and he can suffer anxiety it new situations..........but we lead what I would call a normal life.

I always keep in mind that is not something he does...............but something that happens to him.

It has been a steep learning curve being married to someone with this illness..............I had to learn to be understanding............ever watchful..............(he could not see when his moods were to the extreme)................but mostly I had to learn not to be judgemental............(and that did not always come easy)

But I am a better person for this journey.

And I have my fingers crossed that our son has not inherited this.

[bluecat*dancing]

Your husband is so lucky to have you. Having someone who recognised the warning signs early and understood what needed to be done would make life so much easier. I love it when my mood is elevated but I know that I have to bring it down to a healthy level because the flip-side can be pretty self destructive. The genetic component is a worry. I am at least the 4th generation with mental illness  but so far neither of my daughters  show signs of bipolar but they are both susceptable to bouts of depression and one also struggles with anxiety. Over the years they have developed strategies that work for them. I am very proud of them.

In my family, there is anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, bipolar disorder, ocd, schizophrenaform psychosis and schizophrenia. We're a versatile kind of family. LOL

[purple_haize]

Bluecat, dont put yourself down, you are who you are, and you manage to do some things, at least you try.

In my mothers family, someone way, way back was in a Mental assylym, some of my grandmothers sisters had bi polar, appears to be nothing on my mothers fathers side.

My mother suffered from mental illness and was hospitalized when I was about 14.

My first husband was diagnosed with schizophrenia when my kids were young.

I think my son inheritied alot of his fathers mental problems, that led to him taking his own life.

I have Post traumatic stress disorder, bought on by my life with the ex and Tims death.

My cousins son, has no doubt inherited what is in the family, which is a shame as he is really a nice guy..........but he does have some dreadful episodes if he doesnt take his medication.

As Bluecat said Flashie, your husband is very lucky to have you.

[bluecat*dancing]

Thanks, PH. I get so frustrated with myself. The mental illness side of things comes from my Dad's side of the family. I recently discovered old newspaper articles from the 1890's about my paternal grandmother's father. My paternal grandmother left my grandfather when my Dad was around 4 years old. She left behind all of her children, two of whom ended up in a children's home. She resurfaced a few years later and spent an hour or so with my Dad. And, that was that, he never saw her again,and it was assumed that she went back to her husband in NSW. She didn't. She actually stayed near to wherever my Dad was living. I discovered that she had been diagnosed with depression. One of her sons died at the age of 18.I don't know why as of yet.

Anyway, the newspaper articles were about the arrest and trial of my great-grandfather who had been charged with not taking proper care of his children. He had been under the care of a psychiatrist for the previous year for melancholia [I'd hate to think what the psychiatric treatment was back then.]. The police had been called to the property by concerned neighbours. He was found to be in a dreadful state and was in bed, as was his eldest son who was around 18 years old. Two infants were found barely covered in rags and appeared to have been no more than a few weeks old. They were actually 10 months old. One of them was my grandmother. at the trial, the shirt that he had been wearing was presented as evidence and apperently it stood up on its own due to the level of filth.My great grandfather was sent back to the hospital for treatment. He hung himself the  next day. Its all heart-breaking stuff.

Oh, and to add to the tragedy, when my great-grandmother was 62, she went to visit one of her sons who lived in the Blue Mountains but forget to let him know when she was arriving.so there was no one at the station to meet her. She was found in a park,sitting under a tree where she had died overnight from exposure.

[bluecat*dancing]

The impact of mental health issues is far-reaching and has that ripple affect but until recently has been a taboo subject - especially suicide. I often wonder what affect my mental health has impacted on my kids. While they were growing up,I thought that I kept it well hidden but years later, they told me that they kept thinking that they;d come home from school and find me dead. No child should have fears like that. I had the adults fooled but children are much more aware.

Now, I must stop procrastinating and embarking on self-absorbed life stories. lol.